Despite what you think (I'm in love with you)
by Dark Akuma Hunter
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng is in love. The general consensus is that the object of her affection is Adrien Agreste. Every single one of them is wrong. An Alyanette story in four parts.
1. Despite what you think (I'm in love)

**A/N:** They're in their second year of college, Chat and Mari are bros, and I don't know how to write MLB fic. There will be a sequel thing at some point. Fingers crossed.

 **Despite what you think (I'm in love with you):**

Marinette closed her history book with a heavy sigh and tossed it onto the mattress behind her. Instead of continuing her doomed attempt at studying, she cast her gaze across her room, settling on the sight of a certain black-clad superhero who sat at her desk, flicking through one of her notebooks full of design ideas.

Once upon a time, if someone had suggested such a scene to her, Marinette would have laughed it off without a second thought. But after Nathanael's jaunt as the Evillistrator, and Marinette's first official civilian meeting with her crime-fighting partner, Char Noir had started visiting out of the blue – rarely at first, but increasing in frequency until to Marinette it seemed perfectly natural to be doing homework while he sat about, basking in silent companionship and the faint warmth and sweet scents that came from living above a bakery.

At first she hadn't been sure what to think about the whole situation, but as time passed she found it was much easier to get along with him and appreciate his company when he wasn't constantly trying to flirt with or impress her. Marinette knew he cared deeply for Ladybug, and it was that very fact that was currently driving her to distraction. There was something she desperately wanted advice about, but even though Chat didn't know she was Ladybug she still felt a little guilty about going to him for help.

Still, she was supposed to be studying for a test, and if her thoughts refused to let her be then she'd just have to front up and get things out in the open.

"Chat, can I ask you something?"

His fingers stilled, holding her notebook gently open as he half-turned in her chair to glance over at her.

"Is it a homework thing?" he asked lightly, giving a cheeky grin that didn't cover the concern in his eyes. They'd long since ditched the hesitant permissions, preferring to just call out at random whenever a thought struck, so her tone and words had him obviously worried. "Because I think asking a superhero for help is probably considered cheating _but_ I would gladly offer my services for a couple of pastries."

Despite her misgivings, Marinette laughed. "If you want food so badly you can always just _ask_. I'm not opposed to feeding stray cats every now and again." Her reflexive mirth died away quickly though. Her hands came together in her lap, fingers twining and untwining nervously. "But no, it's, uh, personal."

For a long moment Chat simply stared at her, gaze focused and assessing. He nodded once, turned to place her notebook back in her desk drawer, and then spun around to give her his full attention.

"Serious talk then," he said. Not a prompt, but an acknowledgment.

"Yeah." Marinette met his gaze, cleared her throat uncomfortably, and looked away. All in all she wasn't really sure where to start – she hadn't even made much of an effort to try and explain things to Tikki, because 5000 years of existence didn't automatically mean the kwami understood the intricacies of modern teenage life.

Chat made a soft, worried sound when her attempt to gather her thoughts delved instead into a slightly panicked silence. "You know you don't have to say anything if it's something difficult to talk about, right?"

Marinette smiled softly at him. She could do this. She knew she could, because this was one of her best friends, looking up at her with worried green eyes. He wouldn't judge her, she was confident that he wasn't that close-minded – and if he was, she had only herself to blame for her bad judgment of character.

"No, I know. It's because it's difficult that I have to say it, you know? I have to talk to _someone_ about it and I really sort of need advice but I can't ask the other person I'd usually go to because it maybe kinda sorta involves them a lot and it would be really embarrassing."

"You may be overestimating my life experience there Princess, but I shall do my best."

"Thanks." Marinette took a deep breath, held it, and slowly let it out, trying to wash away some of her nerves. "There's a lot of backstory to this whole situation, but I guess first I should just state the fact of the matter. I've been hopelessly in love with my best friend for over a year now and I have no idea what to do about it."

There was a moment, after she said it, where an odd look passed over Chat's face – it was there and gone in an instant, so she didn't have a chance to try and interpret it – but then he smiled. "That's great! I mean, it's great? Is that great? Is there a reason you haven't said anything to them?"

Marinette wrinkled her nose, a little surprised that he hadn't automatically assumed it was a guy, but that at least made things easier. She didn't stop to wonder why.

"There's… several reasons. They all sort of loop together in the end. Hmm. Where should I- Uh, I guess it'd be best if I just came straight out with it. Do you know Alya? She runs the Ladyblog."

Chat nodded. "Yeah, she seems like a pretty dedicated reporter."

"She is, and she's wonderful and reckless and also just so happens to be my aforementioned best friend."

"I see." Chat tilted his head slightly, watching her. To Marinette, it looked like he'd just confirmed something he already knew – which was ridiculous, because while she was sure she'd talked about Alya to him before there was no way he'd seen them together and there's just no way he could have guessed that, right?

"Right, yeah, so there's that. But pretty much everyone in my class already thinks I have a hopeless crush on Adrien Agreste."

Chat blinked in surprise. "Adrien Agreste as in that guy?" he asked, pointing at her wall of annotated magazine clippings, a lot of which featured Adrien modelling various designs from his father's company.

"Yeah, he's in my class and there was sort of an incident when he first started school that wasn't actually his fault, but I can rain down righteous fury pretty quick whenever Chloe's involved so that didn't help. Anyway I was sort of embarrassed about that for ages, and also Gabriel Agreste is like my idol so maybe I was a little awestruck too and I just… could never really talk straight around him for ages. Alya immediately jumped on board the theory train and sort of got really invested in the idea… I mean I can talk to him _fine_ now thank you very much, but she still gives these little smug, proud grins and stuff whenever I don't trip over my sentences around him. How do you tell a girl who thinks you're in love with a guy that you actually have a ridiculous crush on _her_?"

"Huh." Chat rubbed his chin, staring down at the floor. "That _is_ actually a bit more complicated than I thought it was going to be. What's your biggest worry then about all this? _Aside from_ hypothetically potentially ruining your friendship," he added quickly when Marinette opened her mouth. "I get the feeling you're the sort of person who would worry about that a lot, regardless of who you had feelings for."

As much as Marinette wanted to protest, she had to admit he was pretty much spot on about that. She sighed, and tried to organise her general mass of _fear_ into words.

"There's… I just… What if she gets mad at me? About the Adrien thing? I tried denying it in the beginning, but apparently it wasn't very effective when I kept stuttering at him, so eventually I just stopped trying to correct her. What if she holds that against me?"

"You're catastrophizing," Chat pointed out. He was starting to sound more amused than worried. "But even so, if that's your biggest worry then I think you're in the clear. You know Alya a lot better than I do, but even I don't think she's the sort of person who would flip out like that. She's a reporter, she likes facts when she can get her hands on them. So give her facts. I'm sure everything will work out."

"Ugh." Marinette flung herself down on her mattress with a groan. "I feel like you're too confident to give reliable advice. Maybe I should've asked Nino… No, that would've been embarrassing. Why is this so hard?"

"It doesn't have to be hard." The squeak of her desk chair was all the warning Marinette got before she felt the mattress dip near her waist – Chat always was ridiculously light on his feet, even in her room. "You don't have to go out and tell her today either. Just work things through in your own time. Maybe you'll never tell her – and though you may come to regret that, in the end it's your decision to make. Just don't let your fear be what stops you."

Marinette folded her arms over her face and sighed into her sleeves. Her voice was muffled when she spoke. "Who gave you permission to be all logical and suave? What happened to my goofy kitty who whines pathetically when I beat him at video games?"

Somewhere above her Chat made an offended sound. "Me _ouch_. Are you saying I can't be both?" Then he laughed, and Marinette rolled her eyes even though he couldn't see her do it.

Chat brushed a gloved hand lightly across the top of Marinette's head before one of his hands alighted upon each of her shoulders. Marinette peeked up at him from between her arms, and found herself a little breathless at the soft expression on Chat's face as he looked down at her. She would never know what she'd done to deserve his affection, but his friendship was something she would never take for granted.

"You need to rest," Chat said simply. He tugged at her, firm but gentle, until Marinette was curled up on the bed, her head resting on his thigh. "Everything will be fine if you let it."

With deft fingers he undid her pigtails and began slowly running his fingers through her hair.

Marinette wanted to protest – she still needed to study, Chat probably had things he needed to be doing, it was a weird time of day for a nap – but sleep _did_ sound like a nice idea. It had been more draining than she'd anticipated, actually saying the words out loud like that for the first time, so being able to just forget about life for a bit was an attractive thought.

She fell asleep to the low sound of Chat humming above her.

 **oOoOo**

Sitting in class the next day, Marinette toyed idly with the edges of her newly acquired black-and-green bracelet.

When she'd woken up from her nap the previous day it had been dark out. She'd missed dinner, so quietly threw together some leftovers, and then retreated back to her room with a few cookies for Tikki as thanks for staying hidden away for so long while Chat was over.

She hadn't seen it at first, but when it became apparent that she wouldn't be getting back to sleep any time soon, Marinette had decided to work on some design sketches. The bracelet had been sitting on her desk atop a folded piece of paper.

 _Sorry for using your stuff without asking,_ it read, _but I made you this. For luck._

The bracelet was obviously hand-made – just some wool plaited together with clumsy fingers from the scrap heap next to her chaise – but it had made her feel a little better about having talked with Chat about things. Sometimes she forgot how thoughtful he could be.

That being said, sitting next to Alya in class all day felt occasionally like an insurmountable challenge now that she'd given voice to her feelings, even if it was to a person who would never, ever tell anyone about them. Marinette had barely taken any notes, and it was only the thought of Chat silently cheering her on that kept her from saying or doing anything weird whenever Alya spoke to her or someone made another jibe about Adrien.

Chat had advised she take all the time she needed, but Marinette was no longer sure what to do with herself.

 **oOoOo**

A week and a half had passed since Marinette's talk with Chat.

Even with his pep talk and his good luck bracelet, every time Marinette envisioned telling Alya her imagination spiralled straight into self-destruction mode where doom and gloom was the only possible outcome.

She _knew_ she was being ridiculous. You didn't even have to know Alya particularly well to know that revelations like Marinette's weren't the sort of thing that would have the reporter refusing to associate with her. But knowing it from a logical standpoint and _believing_ it in her heart were two very different things.

Chat had suggested she take her time. But Marinette knew herself well enough to know, after the week she'd had, that time was not the issue. If she let herself, she would quite readily put things off until the day they either blew up in her face or she took it to the grave. She knew she could live like that – she'd already spent a year doing it – but that didn't make it the best course of action.

Ladybug would just tell her, consequences be damned. Not only was Ladybug confident, but she was anonymous in a way that Marinette would never be.

Essentially, there were two paths open to Marinette. She could spend forever moping about it in silence, or she could force herself to speak.

Only one of those would let her know how Alya felt.

Only one of those left her vulnerable.

There was only one thing she could do.

Confess.

 **oOoOo**

Marinette was pacing nervously in the living room. She was endlessly thankful that her parents were busy with the bakery and weren't around to see her. Normally she did all of her nervous pacing in her room, but that was currently out of the question since Alya was upstairs, waiting for her to come back.

After trying to psych herself up and convince herself that yes, she was really going to do this, she'd managed to invite Alya around after school without coming across as too weird, but she'd immediately chickened out once they were in her room and had fled downstairs.

Because Alya was amazing and intuitive Marinette probably only had about five minutes max before she stormed down after her to see what was up, and Marinette would feel a lot better about having that conversation in the relative privacy of her room, but…

Marinette slapped her cheeks gently. "Come on," she whispered to herself. "Chat believes in you, why can't you believe in yourself for five minutes?"

She exhaled shakily and dug deep into the Ladybug part of herself, searching for strength. When her hands had more or less stopped trembling she put some cookies on a plate and resolutely headed back upstairs.

Alya was sitting in front of the computer, editing something on the Ladyblog. (She'd known Marinette's password almost from the very beginning, and she'd never seen any point in changing it.) Though her typing slowed when Marinette climbed through the trapdoor, she pointedly didn't immediately focus her attention on her.

Marinette placed the plate on the edge of the desk, then flitted agitatedly about the room, shuffling papers and fluffing cushions and ultimately just stalling.

When she started fidgeting with the material in her scrap pile Alya sighed.

"Come on girl, I know you didn't invite me over so I could watch you clean your room."

Marinette let out a startled squeak and straightened up, but refused to turn around.

"I can tell something's up. I'm just not sure if it's the sort of thing I should try and coax out of you, or the sort of thing I should just leave alone."

Her face felt warm; Marinette was sure she was bright red – she'd always blushed easily. She should have known Alya wouldn't give her time to think – not that time to think was going to help do anything but exacerbate her nerves.

"Is this an Adrien thing?" Alya prodded.

Marinette's hands stilled. Hearing Adrien's name sent a cold wash of… not confidence but perhaps _determination_ through her. He was truly a dear classmate and sort-of friend, but it _irritated_ her that, even though she'd brought Alya up here meaning to spill her guts, the situation was determined to find a way to be about Adrien.

She spun on her heel, a little angry in spite of it all.

"Why does everything have to be about Adrien?" Marinette demanded, the words spilling from her mouth entirely unchecked. "He's cool and all but he's not the person I'm trying to confess to."

Alya, hand partway raised as though to interrupt what she had expected to become a rant, sat back in Marinette's desk chair, her eyebrows furrowed in thought and lips pressed into a speculative line.

In the silence, Marinette processed what she'd actually said. The blush came back full force; she wanted to hide, but she was frozen in place by Alya's assessing stare.

There were two ways Alya could interpret what she'd just said. There was the truth – that Marinette was in love with the journalist – and then there was the possibility that she wanted Alya's help with confessing to some other non-Adrien entity. Marinette wasn't sure which conclusion she wanted Alya to come to.

She tugged anxiously at Chat's bracelet and averted her gaze.

Alya's voice was soft when she next spoke, gentle and a little hesitant.

"Mari…" she paused, and Marinette heard her clear her throat. "Mari, are you… did you just say what I think you just said?"

Marinette tried to shrug, maybe brush it off, because this was not how things were supposed to go down she was _supposed to be better than this_ , but her arms wouldn't cooperate. She hung her head, closed her eyes, and nodded, just slightly.

The chair creaked as Alya stood up. Her footsteps were loud in the quiet of the room as she moved closer. Marinette screwed her eyes shut tighter; she didn't want to see the look on Alya's face.

Warm fingers brushed against the back of Marinette's hand. She flinched in surprise, but didn't pull away. They lingered, a barely-there touch.

"Marinette, look at me." There was a pleading note in Alya's voice. It made Marinette _so curious_ , but her fear would always outweigh her curiosity in moments like this. She shook her head.

The fingers left her hand and came up to cup Marinette's cheek instead. The touch was feather-soft against her skin and she ached to lean into it. She held her ground.

"Mari, _please_."

The fight faded from her stance. Marinette could never say no to Alya when she sounded like that – gentle, pleading, desperate. It hurt to be the one who put her in that mood to begin with. Cautiously, she opened her eyes, and allowed Alya to tilt her face back up to meet her gaze.

"There we go," Alya breathed, rubbing her thumb across Marinette's cheekbone. "Look at me, trust me, and use your words. I don't want to misunderstand this and do something stupid."

Marinette's breath caught in her throat. Alya was watching her with such fondness that for a moment she wasn't even sure what words were.

"I…" she swallowed thickly. Allowed herself to take comfort from Alya's touch. Tried a feeble, wobbly smile. "I was trying to… I wanted to say…" She glanced away, steadied herself, and met Alya's eyes. "I'minlovewithyou!"

Marinette cringed. That wasn't quite what she'd had in mind, but the words were out now, and she knew Alya was well trained in understanding all sorts of Marinette-speak. She desperately wanted to look away again, but forced herself to stand tall, to not let her embarrassment make it seem like she was ashamed to feel that way.

Alya smiled.

The hand on her cheek disappeared, but before Marinette had a chance to worry that maybe she'd done something wrong after all she was wrapped in a bone-crushing embrace. Alya laughed into her neck, and if it sounded a little like sobbing Marinette certainly wasn't going to point it out. Hesitantly, she wrapped her own arms around Alya's waist.

It was nice, holding and being held, even when everything else was still up in the air.

After a few minutes, Alya pulled back. Marinette let her arms fall back to her sides, unsure, waiting for some sort of sign. Alya's eyes were glassy, a little damp, but she was still smiling.

"Oh my god, Mari, you have _no idea_ how glad I am to hear you say that."

Marinette blinked at her in surprise, lips parting for a question she couldn't voice. She'd been so worried that this would mess everything up, that her feelings would be a burden or whatever else, that she hadn't even really stopped to contemplate what might happen on the other end of the scale.

Alya grabbed her hands, holding them in the space between their bodies.

"I'm not going to ask you anything else right now, because you look like you might combust," she teased gently. "But this is a _good thing_ Marinette. Don't let your panic tell you otherwise. I know how you get. This?" she squeezed Marinette's hands. "This is going to be _amazing_. I want you to believe that. Understand?"

Marinette nodded slowly, reflexively tightening her grip on Alya's hands.

"I… Does that… Do you…?"

" _Yes_." Alya leaned forward and kissed Marinette's cheek. It was nothing new – they were affectionate friends – but it felt charged now. It burned Marinette's skin pleasantly. When she pulled back, Alya's face was flushed, and she knew she felt it too.

Marinette made a flustered sound and buried her face in Alya's shoulder.

"Come on, we need to sit you down before you collapse."

Marinette allowed Alya to pull her over to the chaise and drag her down to sit. She smiled softly, looking down at their clasped hands, and wondered what she'd ever done to deserve the affection of someone like Alya.

She knew they still needed to talk, and they would once her face stopped trying to be a traffic light and she regained the ability to speak in complete sentences, but for now, Marinette just felt light, like an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

Chat had been right. She'd been working herself into a nervous frenzy trying to predict the outcome of a confession when all she'd really needed to do was _look_ at Alya and trust that everything would be fine.

And everything _would_ be fine.

She loved and was loved in return. Everything else would fall into place later.


	2. Open your heart (the rest will follow)

**A/N:** Yo I'm finally back with part two. It's a little bit all over the place - half of it was written last year when I posted part one, and the rest I wrote today - and ends a little abruptly, but the point is that we're one step closer to finishing what I promised. Yay?

 **Open your heart (and the rest will follow)**

Marinette didn't remember a lot of what happened on Friday. After her bumbling mess of a not-really confession, Alya had held her hands for a long time, and Marinette mostly remembered feeling fuzzy and warm and a little disbelieving. They hadn't had much more of a chance to talk things out, since by the time Marinette had recovered her senses enough for useful conversation Alya had needed to head home to babysit.

Saturday was also a no-go. Between Marinette having to help her parents out with the bakery and Ladybug having to make an appearance to deal with a rampaging akuma there just weren't enough daylight hours to meet up (aside from a brief and slightly awkward encounter as Ladybug), and it wasn't a conversation she really wanted to have over the phone or by skype.

Sunday, then, was her last chance. Marinette was content in the fact that Alya didn't now hate her, but everything else felt like it was still up in the air, and she didn't fancy heading back to school on Monday while wallowing in uncertainty. She didn't want to assume one thing only to find that Alya had assumed something different.

Marinette sent out her invite via text – two days to process things was great and all but she still wasn't convinced she was up to hearing Alya's voice without being able to see her expressions – and Alya sent back an affirmative a little while later accompanied by a bunch of smiley-face emojis. She smiled just looking at the text.

There were a few hours left before the time Marinette had suggested, but she found it relatively easy to fill that time with constructive things (homework mostly) this time around. She was nervous, yes – Marinette wasn't sure there was _anything_ she did that didn't come with at least a tiny flutter of nerves – but she wasn't frantic or panicked. The biggest obstacle had already been overcome, and their friendship was safe and intact; the only thing she didn't know was where they went from there.

She ended up losing track of time (less because of homework and more due to daydreaming) and only remembered she'd made plans at all when her mother's voice calling up the stairs jolted her back to the present.

"Honey, Alya's here. I'm sending her up, okay?"

"Thank you!" Marinette called back, slamming her books shut and shoving them into a semi-neat stack near the edge of her desk, away from her monitor. She ran a nervous hand through her hair – loose for once, as she'd never gotten around to tying it up with everything on her mind – and spun to face the trapdoor, where she could hear Alya coming up the stairs.

A little voice in the back of her mind shrieked that she wasn't ready for this, that it was a bad idea, but she determinedly stomped it into silence, attempting to be resolute and positive rather than twitchy and pessimistic.

When Alya popped into view Marinette offered up an awkward little wave, but Alya shared none of her reservations. With a boisterous "Hey girl!" she marched across the room and wrapped Marinette up in a tight hug. Marinette melted into the embrace, that all-encompassing warmth spreading through her chest again as she carefully brought her own arms to rest around Alya's waist.

"So," Alya began after a minute or two, warm breath brushing Marinette's ear as she pulled back, "Does this mean you're up for full sentences now?"

Marinette shoved Alya's shoulder gently, a little embarrassed, and rolled her eyes, reluctantly extracting herself from Alya's now loose grasp.

"You _know_ I crumble under emotional pressure, you've been watching me do it since the day we met." Marinette tried to sound annoyed, but she couldn't help the small smile that refused to leave her lips. They could still banter and nothing was weird and she was happy.

Alya shrugged, unrepentant, before herding Marinette over to the chaise so they could sit.

"Okay. So. I let you do all the talking and the heartfelt confessing and what-not last time, and I didn't say much of anything, not really. So this is my time." Alya cleared her throat and turned on the chaise to properly face Marinette. "Mari, you're my best friend, and I love you. But you're also _more_ than my best friend, and I am _in love_ with you." Her serious tone turned a little teasing as she continued. "And here I was thinking I was being an amazing friend by pushing my feelings aside to play Ultimate Wingman. I can't believe I was sabotaging myself. Seriously, who does that?"

Marinette giggled, face flushed but not embarrassed this time (not much, anyway).

"You can still be Nino's Ultimate Wingman."

Alya snorted. "Yeah. If he ever decides to have a crush on someone who isn't you or me."

"Well," Marinette shrugged, "I can't say I blame him. You are _very_ easy to like."

She had glanced away, but out of the corner of her eye Marinette saw Alya's cheeks darken. It was… _nice_ , to know that regardless of how much of a blushing mess Alya could reduce her to, Marinette was apparently capable of the same.

Alya really did like her.

"Flattery will get you everywhere."

Marinette laughed again, fondly, and turned back towards Alya when her hand rested briefly on her shoulder. She tilted her head in question and Alya's teasing mood faded away.

"So that's, you know, exchange of feelings, over and done with. And honestly, you still have no idea how elated and relieved I was to hear you say all that on Friday, but… The real question is: what now?"

Marinette frowned a little at the question, nose scrunching in confusion. She didn't want to come across too strong, but with Alya's confirmation that yes, her feelings were a requited thing that she didn't have to freak out about any longer, surely there was only one path forward?

"We… date? Isn't that sort of a natural progression thing?" Alya's expression changed, into something Marinette couldn't quite decipher, so she quickly switched tracks. "Or, you know. We don't. If that's weird. If you don't want to. I was just, you know, getting ahead of myself. Conclusions to ju- no, jumping to conclusions. Typical Marinette." She chuckled nervously.

"Is that what _you_ want?"

Marinette blinked, mouth agape. "I, yes?"

Gathering one of Marinette's hands in her own, Alya's expression softened into something Marinette could read – affection and concern.

"It'll cause a big stir. I'm not sure if you realise that. I'm just worried that you're trying to jump into this without thinking, and then you might get hurt."

"You won't hurt me," Marinette said firmly, in a display of indignant assuredness that surprised Alya. "You won't hurt me, my parents won't care, your mother _shouldn't_ care but might I suppose, you know her better than I do; the only other person to worry about is what, Nino? And maybe Adrien? Chloe'll kick up a fuss about anything, you know that – I've been dealing with her for most of my life, I'm thick-skinned. No one else matters in this. Just us. But maybe I should be asking _you_ this instead?"

"No, no, you're right. I guess I forgot who I was talking to for a moment there, Miss Class President."

The tension in the air vanished as Alya grinned apologetically. Marinette punched her lightly in the shoulder with her free hand – it was heartening to witness just how much thought Alya was trying to put in to ensuring Marinette was comfortable with things, but she was seriously underestimating her if Alya really thought she would let a petty thing like disapproving classmates keep her away from something that made her happy.

"You're not worried though?" Marinette pushed, just to make sure.

"Nah." Alya shook her head emphatically. "Come Hell or high water Mari, we're in this thing together. Right?"

"Together. Definitely."

Marinette was considering whether or not to take her hand back when Alya spoke up again.

"So… girlfriends?"

She flushed a brilliant red, despite having been the one to initially bring it up. Alya laughed, but Marinette couldn't find it in her to be offended by it. She just grinned through the heat in her cheeks. "Yeah. Girlfriends."

 **oOoOo**

Part of Marinette had expected school on Monday to be… different, somehow. In some big, universally noticeable way. Her mind had never settled on whether that difference would be good or bad. She knew it was irrational though.

That isn't to say it _wasn't_ different.

Marinette made more of an attempt than usual to actually wake with her alarm and get to school at a decent time (for her). Alya was sitting by the front steps when she arrived, and they hugged and talked about their weekend and homework, which they'd ignored the day before for more important things like relationship definitions and also maybe movie snuggles.

They walked arm-in-arm to the lockers and no one gave them a second glance, because it was far from the first time it had happened (although perhaps it _was_ a rare moment for Alya wasn't currently trying to drag Marinette to her doom [aka a dramatic faux-romantic conversation with Adrien before class]).

They sat together in class, because they always sat together in class, and while the lessons carried on as per usual, their recent revelations having – of course – no affect whatsoever on the education system, they were perhaps a little more distracted than usual, sneaking side-glances that lingered whenever they caught each other's gaze. They only got called out for not paying attention one time, which Marinette was quite proud of, because if this had been a pre-Ladybug situation she would definitely have been entirely unsubtle about the whole thing.

They didn't tell anyone on Monday, or on Tuesday, or any other day either.

That first week was just for them.

But come the Monday after that, Marinette and Alya dragged a bemused Nino and a cheerful Adrien out for a picnic lunch, where they told their nearest and dearest about the change in their relationship. Nino had been thrown off-balance by it – regardless of his own brief crushes on both girls, he'd been firmly ensnared by Alya's 'Marinette's in love with Adrien' theory – but he didn't question it, smiling and offering his congratulations. Adrien seemed wholly unsurprised – there was a mysterious, knowing undertone to his smile that had Marinette wondering if she'd actually been embarrassingly obvious about her crush the whole time.

Without a single akuma to ruin the moment, that day ended on a happy note, and Marinette cherished that warm feeling of love and affection for and from her friends, cementing it in her memory as something to look back on if anyone – likely Chloe – got all up in her face about it.

 **oOoOo**

Marinette startled when a knock sounded on the trap door up to the roof. Chat Noir hadn't come by at all over the last week, and before that she'd only seen him once since she forced all of her relationship woes on him. She hadn't been worried – she'd still seen him on patrol nights – but she had been curious. If he knew he wouldn't be able to drop by for an extended period of time he usually let her know beforehand, almost as though he was worried she'd be mad at him for up and disappearing.

Abandoning the fabrics she'd been absentmindedly comparing (inspiration came in waves and today just wasn't her day), Marinette jumped up to let him in.

Chat landed on her bed with all the grace of an actual cat (show off) and immediately scrambled off, clambering to his feet and spinning to face her. He almost seemed to vibrate, with what Marinette assumed was nervous energy, or maybe excitement? It was sometimes so hard to tell with him.

"What's got you all riled up Alley-Cat?"

He blinked at her, long and slow, and seemed to physically reign himself in, like he hadn't realised he was emoting so much, or like he'd remembered he wasn't supposed to be excited. Marinette eyed him speculatively, head tilted.

"Nothing," Chat protested, after a silence too long to give sincerity to his response. "How're things with you?"

Despite his erratic behaviour – though, in the scheme of things, it was no more erratic than normal, just manifesting in a slightly different manner – Marinette allowed the change in topic, but she rolled her eyes in an exaggerated motion to make sure he knew she knew what he was doing. Chat grinned sheepishly back at her and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Do you want a general run-down of everything since your last visit?" she asked jokingly, arms spread to encompass the entirety of her life. "Or is there something specific you're looking for here?"

The deer-in-headlights expression on his face before he ducked away was confirmation enough. Marinette laughed.

"I think I know where this is going," she confessed, settling back down in her desk chair. "Ask away."

"Okay. I didn't say anything last time because it was way too soon, but, uh, how's the Alya situation?"

Marinette smiled softly. Fondness for Chat mingled with fondness for Alya and the irrepressible bubble of warmth that had come to life in her chest when Alya stared her in the eyes and confessed her own affection. Chat grinned back, like it was contagious and he knew exactly what it meant.

"Good. It's really good. Great even." She looked up at the superhero on her bed, her partner, her friend. "I really owe you one Chat. For listening when I couldn't talk to anyone else. For encouraging me. I honestly don't think I ever would have gone through with it if we hadn't talked."

Chat shook his head, grin gentling. "I didn't tell you anything you didn't already know."

"Perhaps," she allowed. "But sometimes you need someone else to confirm it for you."

"I'm always happy to be of service Princess."

They fell into a companionable silence while Marinette tidied up her workspace, Chat's arrival putting a definite end to what had already been doomed to be a highly unproductive evening. Once that was done, she leaned back in her chair, wondering if it was worth throwing on a movie or something instead.

A hand on her shoulder interrupted her.

Tilting her head back she looked up at Chat. She hadn't heard him move, but that was sort of just par for the course most days – his occasionally unnervingly quiet steps were one of his most cat-like qualities.

"What's wrong?"

Chat shrugged and shook his head, hand falling back to his side.

"It's nothing. It's just, you seem happier. Less stressed maybe? It seems like Alya's good for you. I'm glad things worked out."

Chat Noir was always a genuine and sincere person, but he buried it so often beneath jokes and flirtations that it was always a little surprising when he was entirely serious, when he _let himself_ be open without the protective barrier of humour to hide behind. Marinette was always, without fail, every time, deeply touched at the reminder of how much he trusted her.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me."

They did end up watching a movie, bundled up together on Marinette's bed, her laptop resting on their legs. They didn't talk the rest of the evening, just leaned against each other, comfortable and comforting, and then Chat left as gracefully as he arrived, heading off to wherever he called home.

 **oOoOo**

"What's got you so chipper tonight Kitty?"

Ladybug watched as a soft smile – one she'd only really started to become familiar with recently – lit up Chat's face. She still felt a little awestruck whenever she saw it, and she found herself musing – not for the first time – that if Alya had never come into the picture, the brotherly affection she felt for the goofy alley cat might one day have morphed into love instead.

"I'm just happy Milady."

He was staring out over Paris instead of at her, so Ladybug could observe him without notice. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about, but she'd never really seen how he talked about her – about Marinette – outside of her presence. Though she had never had reason to doubt the sincerity of his friendship, it was heartening to see from an outside perspective that plain old Marinette could linger in his thoughts and lift his spirits even when he was in Ladybug's presence.

"Did something good happen to you?"

Normally Ladybug might have considered this as treading dangerous waters, as it edged the verge of potentially revealing too much personal information (she was still cagey about sharing information, but Chat had stopped pointing it out if she went there on her own), but it was their first patrol after she told Chat about Alya, so since she was pretty sure she already knew what he was about to say she figured it couldn't hurt.

"Not to me," Chat confirmed, side-eyeing her in that smug-yet-pleased way he always did when she ignored her own conversation rules. "To a good friend."

"Oh?" Ladybug smiled, and moved forward to sit next to Chat, legs dangling over the edge. "It must've been something pretty amazing then, for you to still be happy about it."

Chat didn't respond straight away. Instead he turned towards her; he was still smiling, but his gaze was hard, considering. Ladybug was thrown. She knew this wasn't specifically about Marinette – he had never asked permission to hang out with civilians in costume, but he'd also made no secret of the fact that he visited her from time to time (although the visits he admitted to were in no way close to the number of times he'd actually dropped by). She suddenly wondered if she'd misread the situation. Perhaps it was arrogant to assume that this was about her – that Marinette was the only person he could possibly be talking about.

Ladybug went to open her mouth – to apologise, to retract the statement, _something_ – but then the look disappeared. Chat turned back to the city.

"Marinette asked out that girl who runs the _Ladyblog_."

Ladybug frowned slightly. That was exactly what she'd thought he was going to say. So what was up with that look?

Chat was glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.

Ladybug blinked. Oh. _Oh._ He was worried about her reaction; that she might disapprove, that he might wreck whatever relationship he'd imagined she and Marinette had. That was… sweet. And a little offensive, but mostly sweet.

"I take it things went well then? I can't imagine you'd be happy otherwise."

Chat's apprehension faded; his gaze turned back to the city.

"It went great. I mean, well, maybe I'm being a tiny bit presumptuous, but they're dating now, so that _has_ to be great. Right?"

"Of course," she agreed easily, watching him thoughtfully. Not for the first time Ladybug considered the idea that Chat might be exactly as innocent, romance-wise, as his over-the-top flirting would suggest. "That's a wonderful thing."

He nodded decisively. "That's what I thought. And also, I'd never really noticed until she brought the whole thing up in the first place, but looking at her now, she seems so much lighter. Like a burden has been lifted from her shoulders. I'm sure you know that Marinette's always very genuine with her emotions, but when I watch her talk I feel like there's something _more_ to her smiles now. Like she doesn't have to hold back anymore. I'm really happy for her."

Ladybug was thankful for Chat's tendency to ramble – she found herself surprised once more by his startling perceptiveness. She would never accuse him of being particularly oblivious (in anything other than the matter of her identity, in which case she was grateful, and of course potentially [god forbid] guilty of the very same thing), but she was always surprised to remember just how observant he could be. She hadn't even noticed it herself – had taking his advice truly made such a massive difference to the way she carried herself?

"She's lucky to have you as a friend," Ladybug said softly, smothering all her other thoughts to ponder at a more appropriate time.

But Chat shook his head, the smile curving his lips turning just the slightest bit melancholic. "No, I'm the lucky one."

Ladybug wanted to say something to that, anything, but Chat climbed to his feet, not looking at her, and pointed out that they should probably get started with patrol. She frowned at his back, but didn't push the issue. He respected her boundaries and she respected his. That was how they worked.

Sometimes she regretted those walls she'd enforced, but there was nothing she could do to take them back. They could only move forwards.


	3. The Shadows that Linger (cast them out)

**A/N:** This ended up being way more emotional than I initially intended it to be last year, but hey. Here's the final part of this awkward little series I started over a year ago.

 **The Shadows that Linger (cast them out)**

Marinette had always had mixed feelings about the _Ladyblog_. In the beginning she'd mostly been torn between embarrassed-but-flattered and absolutely terrified. As time passed she'd reluctantly accepted that it _was_ , besides being full of all sorts of speculation (damn Alya and her search for answers), actually a decent source of news regarding akuma sightings (because Ladybug luck didn't extend to villains always appearing in her vicinity, regardless of the many incidents there were that might suggest otherwise). But these days, alongside her begrudging respect for it, there was a lingering, ever-increasing sense of guilt that flowed through her whenever she scrolled through her girlfriend's ( _girlfriend!_ She still couldn't believe that sometimes) blog.

It had been hard enough lying to Alya when she was just her friend and the girl Marinette was hopelessly pining after. Back then Marinette had been adamant that protecting her friends and family from Hawkmoth was well worth any awkward conversations or speculative stares (or weekends spent grounded because she missed class, _again_ , to fight an akuma).

Now though.

Well.

It had been _so long_. Most days it felt like Ladybug and Chat Noir were still stuck at square one in their seemingly endless battle against Hawkmoth. They were stuck in a cycle of reacting – they could take down an akuma whenever one was spotted, but they hadn't been able to move a single step forward in the actual search for Hawkmoth – and Marinette wasn't convinced that it was going to change anytime soon.

What if they never found him?

She wouldn't be able to handle the guilt of keeping her identity secret for _years_. If that was how things were going to play out, then she wasn't sure 'safety' was the real issue anymore.

It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Don't tell anyone, don't make them worry, don't make them a target. But Alya was good at keeping secrets. _Chat Noir_ was good at keeping secrets. Every single person in Paris was already a target the moment they had a bad day, but out of all the civilians in the city Alya was already at greater risk purely from her defiant, life-threatening journalism. Could two simple words _really_ put her in any more danger?

The way things stood now, Alya was more likely to get in trouble trying fruitlessly to find Marinette during an attack. If two little words could eliminate that panic, wasn't that a good thing?

 **oOoOo**

"Chat," Marinette said softly, lying on her bed with one arm tossed over her face, "I have a secret."

Her partner laughed from somewhere across the room.

"Is that true?" he asked with a dramatic gasp. "Well, I don't know if I can trust a girl who hasn't entrusted me with her life story in _immense_ detail. However shall we mend this rift you've torn in our friendship?"

She sighed, because it was always a terrible idea to encourage him, but she smiled into her arm where he couldn't see it.

"I know, I know," she called back, "I'm a terrible person." It didn't come out as light-hearted as she'd meant it to, because she _was_ a terrible person. She'd been deceiving her best friend since the moment they met.

His teasing laughter trailed off at her tone, leaving a charged silence not dissimilar to the time she dumped her relationship woes on him.

"Princess?"

Marinette cringed – she hated it when Chat sounded like that because it meant she was worrying him. She rolled onto her side, facing the wall, so she wouldn't be tempted to glance at his endlessly expressive eyes while she talked.

"It's… it's a big secret Chat. One that I've never told anyone, ever. But I need to tell _someone_."

"Marinette, I don't—"

"Hush kitty. Let me speak. I swear I'm not just trying to make you my secret keeper. The thing is, if I tell one person, I have to tell two people, because it would be unfathomably unfair to the second person if I only tell the first. But telling one person before the other feels too much like playing favourites, and I'm honestly not sure how I'd manage."

"I'm not quite sure why you're telling me this…"

With an exasperated sigh Marinette pushed herself up off the mattress, resting her gaze on the hesitant form of Chat Noir.

"Because you're one of the people, Chat. Honestly, your self-esteem issues astound me sometimes. There's Alya, my girlfriend, and you, my best friend."

Chat avoided her gaze, clawed fingers fidgeting with his bell.

"I know you don't always believe me when I say that, but it's the truth." Marinette shook her head, shelving the topic for another day, and focussed back on the matter at hand. "Anyway, there's a problem with all this. Because I want to tell you both at the same time, Alya's going to realise that we hang out. I don't want to force that on you, which is why I'm bringing it up now. What do you think?"

After a moment Chat raised his head, staring contemplatively across at her. She let him take his time, because it was an important decision – it would be one thing for Alya to know she hung out with Chat as Ladybug, but another altogether to realise she knew him as Marinette too.

"This is important to you, isn't it?" he asked eventually. Marinette nodded, although she knew he hadn't really been looking for confirmation. "Ladybug might not be thrilled, but you're important to me. And Alya can obviously keep a secret, if you're willing to even suggest it in the first place."

Marinette tried not to cringe when he mentioned Ladybug. Hopefully this would be one of the last times her secret identity would play havoc with her like that.

"This isn't about me though," she protested. "If you don't want to see Alya I don't want you to force yourself."

Chat shook off her protest easily.

"You want me there," he said firmly. "So I'll be there."

Marinette grumbled quietly about his complete lack of self-preservation instinct, but smiled nonetheless.

That was the (second) hardest part done. Getting Alya around would be simple.

Explaining?

 _That_ would be a mission.

 **oOoOo**

Marinette had initially wanted to do things during the evening, out of respect for Chat and his mysteriously busy life, but that was… dangerous. There was always a chance things might get a little heated, and her parents would be _right downstairs_. Sure, she'd made up her mind to tell her two closest friends, but her parents really didn't need the stress of knowing that she was putting herself in danger all the time.

Admittedly there was only one extra floor between her room and the bakery, but being busy with work would keep them from paying too much attention to anything going on upstairs, and the chances of being overheard were almost entirely non-existent in comparison.

Having one detail planned out for damage control didn't make the wait any easier to stomach.

Tikki had tried to give Marinette a pep-talk, but it was cut short by Chat Noir's arrival. When she let him in he seemed almost as nervous as Marinette felt, but the tense line of his shoulders softened some when he settled himself on her desk chair, a cushion he'd swiped from her chaise clutched tightly in his arms.

A little bit of caution on his part was probably wise. Alya was basically a force of nature after all, powerful and unpredictable, and while Marinette was praying for a positive reaction, she knew it might take a while to get there.

The tension in the room sky-rocketed when they heard Alya arrive downstairs. There wasn't anything they could do but listen to her approach – Chat nervous about what weighty secret Marinette was planning to unleash upon them, and Marinette worried about Alya's reaction to Chat.

Alya's gaze landed on Chat Noir the moment she cleared the trapdoor. She didn't say a word until she had closed it behind her, eyes darting between Chat and Marinette.

"If this is you leaving me for Chat Noir, then I'm only half mad."

It was a joke, but Alya had her arms crossed defensively over her chest, and there was a hint of anxiety in her stance. She truly was worried about the answer to that statement. Marinette could imagine her thought process easily: _why date me when you could be dating a superhero?_

Marinette crossed the room immediately with long, determined strides. She snaked her arms around Alya with a confidence and lack of hesitation it had taken her months to build, and crushed her tightly against her, cradling the back of her head with one hand.

"There are some things I want to talk about today, yeah, but not that Alya. I swear it. You and me against the world, right?"

Alya sighed, warm breath against Marinette's skin, and nodded. Marinette loosened her grip and let her step out of the embrace, watching as Alya stepped into journalist mode.

"I'm still confused," Alya admitted. "When exactly did my best girl get all buddy-buddy with one half of Paris' favourite crime-fighting duo?"

Marinette laughed awkwardly and took a measured step back, out of immediate attack range. This was sort of like baby-steps, easing into the big stuff.

"Any answer that doesn't involve me bumping into him in the streets and coercing him to come for an interview isn't going to make you happy, so let's just say quite a while?" And it had been, both as Ladybug and as Marinette. Time just kept ticking by before she even noticed it, since she was so busy with school and akuma and Alya and sometimes the bakery.

Alya stared at both of them, a slight frown tugging on the corners of her lips. Marinette bit back her knee-jerk follow up of _and no, I don't know who he is under the mask_ , because she _knew_ Alya would get offended at the assumption. For all that the _Ladyblog_ was interested in speculating about them, Alya would never force the issue.

"So you're just… friends, with a superhero?" Alya sounded like she was still having trouble believing those words could ever go together like that, but she didn't sound annoyed, so that was a bonus.

"He's my best friend." Marinette punctuated that statement by giving Chat a pointed look. She'd said it to him plenty of times before, but this was the first time she'd been able to say it to someone else. Maybe that would help him believe her sincerity.

Alya's eyebrows raised at that. She seemed more surprised than anything, which Marinette could totally get, because they talked about pretty much everything together (barring what she was going to confess to today) and the fact that she'd managed to stay so absolutely silent about an important part of her life when half the time she rambled with no filter was impressive to say the least.

"I asked her not to tell anyone," Chat piped up, like he was trying to be a buffer for Alya's potential displeasure or something. Marinette wasn't about to let him be unnecessarily self-sacrificing.

"No you didn't." Marinette lightly punched him in the shoulder in reprimand. "I made that decision on my own because I respect your privacy."

"You _would_ try and carry the world on your shoulders," Alya agreed fondly.

Marinette couldn't quite hold back a cringe at that. It hit a little too close to home. Chat Noir and Alya both caught it.

"Marinette?"

"Mari?"

Marinette sighed.

"You two are side-tracking me with this friendship business. Chat already knows this, but I asked both of you to come here today because I've been keeping secrets from you, and I think it's time to come clean about them. And you might be angry or upset about what I tell you, and that's fine, okay? You're allowed to feel however you want to feel about it, both of you. But I need to tell you because I don't feel like I can justify keeping it on lockdown anymore."

If anything they only looked even more concerned once Marinette tapered off. She took a deep breath, hand resting over the pocket of her cardigan that Tikki was sitting in.

"Maybe you should sit down," Marinette said, stalling.

None of the words leaving her mouth were helping the tension that was seeping into the air. Alya gave her a dubious look, but complied with her request, sitting on the chaise and looking up at her, determined, worried, and maybe even a bit frightened.

That last part was probably entirely Marinette's fault.

"I, uh… Showing you is probably easier than trying to tell you. So. Just. Uh… Yeah."

Marinette closed her eyes and called upon everything that made her Ladybug, taking deep, calming breaths.

"Tikki," she whispered. "Spots on."

She kept her eyes screwed shut as she felt the transformation take hold. The sound of something hitting the floor forced her to open them.

Chat had dropped the cushion he'd been strangling to his chest. His eyes were wide, lips parted in surprise. Marinette was almost afraid to try and look any closer, to try and decipher his expression. Alya let out a strange squeak, capturing Marinette's attention and giving her a momentary out from the intensity of his gaze.

"You- I- Wha- _Ladybug?!_ "

Marinette cringed. She stepped towards Alya, hands held out in front of her, placating.

"Alya, I-"

Alya made another indecipherable sound. Marinette had never seen her so stumped before.

"My girlfriend is _Ladybug?!_ " Alya hissed in disbelief.

"Listen, Alya, I get it if you're mad-"

"Mad? I'm _furious_. You've been right next to me all this time, the superhero I admired and the girl I fell in love with, and I _didn't even notice!_ What kind of friend does that make me?"

Marinette smiled in bewilderment at the turn this had taken.

"A very good friend who always accepted my shitty excuses whenever I disappeared during akuma attacks?"

Alya seemed incredibly torn now about whether that was actually a good thing or a bad thing. Marinette wanted to say something else, to try and convince her that it wasn't anything against her that she'd never figured it out, but Chat spoke into the quiet.

"Ladybug?"

Marinette spun to her partner instantly. His voice was heartbreakingly sad, and god, she'd known that it might go down badly, but hearing it was shattering.

Crossing the room again Marinette dropped to her knees in front of him and peered up into Chat's face.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly, resting her hands on his knees and hoping that everything would be okay.

Chat attempted a half-hearted smile, but it just hurt to look at.

"I think I know how Alya feels," he said. "I mean, god, I see you almost every single day, one way or the other, but I didn't think, even for a _second_ , that the only two people to call Chat Noir friend might be the same person."

They didn't patrol _that_ often outside of attacks, so Marinette didn't quite know what he meant by that, but she thought she might understand the devastation.

"Don't you think I wanted it to be that way? There's no point in a secret identity if it's too easy to put two and two together. That's why I was always so hesitant, as Ladybug, but you didn't have any expectations of Marinette. I could just be myself and you'd probably never guess. But the guilt's been gnawing away at me for a while now, and it kicked up a whole other notch when I started dating Alya, and well, here we are."

"Here we are indeed." Chat laughed, but it sounded suspiciously wet. God, she hadn't meant to make him this upset.

"Do you at least understand now why I wanted to tell you together?"

Chat looked like he wanted to make a dismissive joke, but maybe he didn't have the heart for it just then.

"You didn't want to have to pick between us," he replied softly.

"That's right." Marinette grasped at the admittance. "You mean just as much to me as Alya does, even if it's not in the way I know you hoped for."

Chat shook his head. "You don't have to apologise for that. It's not your fault. I always sort of knew deep down that it was a long-shot. What you told me that day, about Alya, it sort of makes it easier, knowing that I never had a chance. That you weren't rebuffing me because I was me but because someone got there first."

Oh god, this whole thing was tearing her up inside. Marinette blinked back tears and glanced over at Alya, almost pleadingly. Alya shrugged helplessly. There wasn't really anything she could do – she was out of her depth watching this relationship breakdown, plus she had her own revelations to work through.

"Oh, Chat, no." Marinette leaned up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and tugging his head down against her neck. "Anyone would be lucky to have you. But I think that maybe you're a bit like me. I had this sort of romantic tunnel-vision practically from the moment I met Alya – even if I never worked up the courage to say anything I might never have moved on from her. And I think that's sort of what you have with Ladybug – with me. So maybe that's a little on me, too, for not being firmer or definitive when I brushed aside your flirtations, for letting you linger. I want you to be happy, okay?"

With Alya in the room Marinette decided not to comment on the warm splash of tears against the shoulder of her suit. Quietly, she released her transformation. Tikki came to rest solemnly on her free shoulder, and together they watched over Chat as he tried to pull himself together.

Eventually Chat let himself be tugged off the chair entirely so they could sit more comfortably on the floor, Chat practically boneless and morose in Marinette's lap. She anticipated he might be there a while, trying to reboot, and that was fine, but she was a little worried about Alya too.

Looking over to her chaise she gestured to Alya with her free hand. Alya seemed reluctant to interrupt, but when Marinette curled her fingers more forcefully she headed towards the downtrodden superheroes.

Alya sat behind Marinette and wrapped her arms around her waist, careful not to disturb Chat. She pressed her forehead against Marinette's back between her shoulder-blades and let out a gusty sigh.

"We can talk about you being a secret magic badass some other time," she said, voice quiet but firm. "But more importantly, is he going to be okay?"

Marinette appreciated the thought, but she had no idea how to answer that.

Apparently Chat did.

"I'll be fine," he muttered thickly. "I know this isn't the end of anything. It's just… a lot. I don't have a lot of close friends like you and Ladybug, and now Ladybug doesn't count anymore because you're the same person. It's just… a lot."

Marinette squeezed him tighter briefly, but there was nothing she could really say to that.

"What about me?" Alya asked suddenly.

Marinette tried to glance back at her but she hadn't moved her head away from her cardigan.

"What about you?" Marinette asked back, lost.

"Chat, why don't we be friends? You can tell me embarrassing stories about Ladybug, because you know Mari won't tell me any herself."

Chat snorted, but Marinette could feel him shake his head.

For one wild, irrational moment, Marinette was indignantly offended on Alya's behalf. But then Chat pulled back, and she caught a glimpse of the sad, wavering smile on his face.

"Chat?"

"I think," he said, swallowing down the last vestiges of his tears, "that since today is a day of sharing, maybe I should get in on this too."

Marinette instantly knew what he meant.

"You don't have to. You know that's not why I did this."

"I know." His smile gained a little bit of strength. "But I was never really the one who wanted to hide it in the first place. I was just respecting your wishes."

"And you're okay with Alya being here?"

"I'm perfectly fine with Alya being here."

Chat climbed out of her lap and settled himself beside her instead. Then, between one breath and the next, his transformation was gone, and she was left staring at a familiar blond haired boy.

"Adrien?" Marinette wanted to be surprised, or incredulous, or maybe to curse the fates, but honestly? Now she was just feeling what Alya and Chat – _Adrien_ – had been feeling about her. Frustration at herself, for never noticing despite him being _right there_.

Alya looked up at the sound of Adrien's name, and made another of those strangled sounds of surprise when she saw their classmate instead of the leather-clad superhero.

"Well," she said faintly. "Next you'll be telling me Nino secretly has superpowers too."

"He stood up to my father," Adrien pointed out. "I think that's some sort of superpower all on its own."

They all laughed, a little confused and overwhelmed, but also relieved.

They were only two other people, but Marinette suddenly felt freer than she had in a long time, like a weight truly had been shifted. The sheer stress of trying to keep such a life-changing secret from the people closest to her had been enormous, and to suddenly have two people she didn't have to hide with… It was liberating. She hoped Adrien felt the same way.

With everything out in the open, maybe this could be the start of something good, something _better_.

Only time would tell.


	4. The Origins of a Reluctant Superhero

**The Origins of a Reluctant Superhero:**

Even before they started dating, Marinette and Alya had always spent a lot of time together. It just so happened that, after that emotional afternoon of secrets shared and burdens halved, their dynamic duo occasionally became a trio.

Whenever he had free time – which meant whenever he could sneak out of the house, because his actual scheduled free time was usually dedicated to Nino – Adrien started visiting more often than he had when they were just Chat Noir and Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

For the briefest of moments, that first time after it all went down, Marinette had worried that the dynamic would be weird between the three of them. A lot of things had changed that day, after all. But it turned out to be a needless worry.

As a matter of fact, Adrien seemed more comfortable than ever. Having people around that knew he was Chat Noir meant there was finally a safe space where he could truly be himself without worrying about how other people might react, or the possibility that he might draw suspicion upon himself by acting just a little too much like Chat Noir when he was supposed to be Adrien Agreste.

It was one such get-together, about a month or so after that fateful day, when Alya finally reached the limit of her patience and started digging for info on their sordid superhero origin stories.

"So," she began, in a faux-innocent tone that neither Marinette nor Adrien bought for a single second. "I think I've been pretty good, not badgering you two for deets, letting you talk about superhero stuff at your own pace, and I feel like maybe I deserve a reward for restraining my burning journalistic curiosity."

Marinette rolled her eyes. She sat up from where she'd been lying with her head pillowed on Alya's thigh, Adrien sprawled on the mattress beside them.

"If you're angling for a kiss there are less dramatic ways to go about it."

Adrien muffled a snort of laughter in a pillow as Alya put a hand to her chest in mock outrage.

"I would _never_ engage in underhanded tactics for affection. Who do you think I am? _Obviously_ this is about _in-for-ma-tion._ " She dragged the last word out, poking Marinette in the forehead for emphasis.

Marinette swatted her finger away with an indulgent smile.

"Okay, okay, what do you want to know?"

Alya grinned triumphantly, but then her demeanour became a bit more serious.

"How did you become Ladybug?"

Adrien perked up a little at the question. Obviously he expected it to be something similar to himself, but even amongst themselves they'd never talked about it.

Marinette knew Alya wasn't asking about the mechanics – she was more than familiar now with Plagg and Tikki, and since they no longer had to run and hide from each other during an attack, she had seen them transform several more times since that first day.

"It's not super interesting," Marinette said sheepishly, scratching at her cheek. "It's a little embarrassing actually. I don't want to ruin your image of Ladybug."

Adrien sat up too, and suddenly they were all sitting in a circle on Marinette's bed.

"The first time I met you – Ladybug that is – you fell out of the sky."

Marinette groaned, remembering that incident in perfect clarity.

"It was my first time using my yoyo, I had no idea what I was doing!"

Alya snickered, no doubt envisioning the incident based on Marinette's usual day-to-day clumsiness.

"And not just that, I nearly introduced myself with my real name!"

"Okay, that _would_ have been a pretty amateur mistake," Adrien allowed.

Marinette huffed, but he wasn't wrong. She'd been so flustered and confused and she hadn't known what she was doing at all.

"Well, speaking of amateur mistakes, you totally didn't even give Plagg a chance to explain your powers before you rushed off, did you? You were so surprised when your cataclysm was a one-time use power."

Laughing, Adrien didn't even try and deny it.

"Yeah, I may have been a little too excited to sit around and listen to silly little things like _explanations_."

"That was in the stadium when Ivan got akumatized, right?" Alya asked.

The superheroes both nodded.

"Honestly? I was terrified. I only managed to gather enough courage to jump into the fray after you yelled at me Alya. And after, when I messed up and didn't purify the akuma, it just cemented what I'd been feeling ever since Tikki showed up with the miraculous: I wasn't cut out to be a superhero."

Alya and Adrien both frowned at her. Surely it wasn't that surprising a notion?

"Seriously. When Ivan transformed again I put my miraculous in Alya's bag. With the way she rushed in headfirst just for information, I figured she'd make a way better Ladybug than me. But you didn't take your bag with you, so I ended up chasing you through the streets, and when you got trapped by that car I couldn't just stand there and not do anything, so I put the earrings back on."

Marinette looked down at her hands. They only knew the competent Ladybug, and even knowing that Ladybug was also clumsy Marinette they probably hadn't yet truly made the connection that that meant Ladybug was uncertain as well.

"Mari, that just means you were scared. Everyone gets scared. But people were in danger and you stepped up, in spite of your fear. I think that says more about your suitability than a little indecision, don't you Adrien?"

"Exactly. Although, now that you mention it, I do remember you saying something like that back in the beginning."

"I did. But you – Chat Noir – convinced me that maybe I wasn't quite as useless as I thought I was. If you weren't there it might've taken a long time for me to find the confidence within myself to really _be_ Ladybug, instead of just reluctantly coming out when people I knew were in danger."

"Well, for the record, I never doubted you for a single second," Adrien assured.

"Neither did I!" Alya seconded.

Smiling softly, Marinette basked in the positivity and fierce belief of her closest friends.

"Anyway," Alya said suddenly. "I'm glad that whole thing where you tried to trick me into becoming Ladybug didn't pan out. Writing a blog about myself like that is a level of narcissism I hope I never reach."

The three of them dissolved into laughter, imagining life and the _Ladyblog_ with Alya wearing the mask. Marinette had no doubt that she would kick ass, but it would mess up her journalism.

Everything just worked out better this way.

Marinette no longer had those same sorts of doubts about being Ladybug – hadn't in a long time – but that didn't mean she was never uncertain. Maybe now she could shape her shaky beginning into new strength, to remind herself that sometimes it was okay to rely on someone else's belief in you when you didn't believe in yourself, and to make that your power. Between Adrien and Alya, Marinette didn't think she'd ever be lacking in that department.


End file.
